Free Center Courtship by Liza Brown Page A

this.”
    â€œYeah, well, he’ll probably tell you it was his idea. But I came up with it as I was driving down to my meeting with the coaches last night. Called the hospital in the car and got it all set up,” he smiled proudly.
    â€œGood for you,” I said. I wasn’t as impressed with him as he was with himself.
    He started to leave the room then turned back to look at me. “Those pictures and videos I took last night, can you send them to me?” he reached into his pocket and retrieved a business card.
    â€œI thought you didn’t want them since Brandon wasn’t there,” I said.
    â€œNah, there might be some usable footage in there,” he said as he walked away and I stared out the door.
    â€œHe was interesting,” said Max.
    â€œYeah, interesting.”
    â€œYou don’t like him?” he asked me.
    â€œI don’t know. Not that it really matters, but he just seems shady to me for some reason.” I sat back in my seat and looked at Max. “Seriously though. About Brandon, how is he, really?”
    â€œHe got hit pretty hard in the back. They’re worried about the kidneys. Gina won’t say anything about it in front of him, for fear of making him upset.”
    â€œWhat about the driver?”
    Max put his head in his hand, “The jackass sped off. All we have to go by is Mitchell saying the car was blue. But he’s five and his favorite color is blue so who knows?”
    â€œShit,” I said, wringing my hands in my lap.
    â€œYep, I don’t know how people can do that. For as bad as Brandon is hurt, the car has to be damaged.”
    â€œHe looks pretty banged up,” I felt tears welling in my eyes.
    â€œDon’t cry, we’ve cried all the tears we can. He’s in good spirits, let’s not dwell on the negative, ok?”
    His phone beeped from inside his coat. “A text from Christopher. He wants to know how Brandon is.”
    â€œOh, now he cares?” I refrained from informing him that Christopher didn’t want to speak to Gina because he felt her voice was too whiny. “He’s in hot water with me. I’m waiting for the wrath of mom to call me.”
    â€œWhat did he do now?”
    I told him the story of the thong and the missing gas. “That ass, you could have been stranded on the highway or who knows where.”
    â€œActually, I’d rather have been stranded on the highway than face Bart.”
    â€œBart?”
    â€œHe delivered the gas,” I said, as I put my forehead in my hand and rubbed my temples, my elbow resting on the arm of the chair.
    â€œGoddamn.”
    â€œElsu saved me after Bart hit me with every insult he could come up with in the short amount of time he was there.”
    â€œAss,” stammered Max as he sat back in his chair.
    â€œDo restraining orders expire?” I asked curiously.
    â€œYes, Mae. If he becomes trouble, we’ll have to go back to court. He’s only been out a month. I’d like to know which judge he went down on to convince them to let him out.” Max was my lawyer for the domestic violence case. He was the best at what he did. Attorney Maxwell Rogers was so protective of his favorite sister that he made sure Bart got what he deserved.
    â€œYou know, he told me those orders expire when I told him I was going to call the cops. I guess I just kind of let it slide.”
    â€œWe let yours lapse because he was supposed to be in jail for another fifteen years.”
    I nodded and sat back in my seat as I watched some basketball players walk by. “They really went all out for Brandon, didn’t they?”
    â€œYeah, you must have really made an impression last night, those four in the room with him talked about you nonstop when they first got here.”
    â€œThey did not,” I blushed.
    â€œAsk Gina, she’ll corroborate my story.”
    â€œCorroborate, you’re such a lawyer, big